Further Along the Road Less Traveled

Fans of psychiatrist Peck's bestselling The Road Less Traveled will enjoy this self-help sequel, a collection of edited lectures that offers a tough-minded, liberating guide to learning to live and die with dignity, creativity and meaning. Peck maps four distinct steps of spiritual growth. The first stage is exemplified by antisocial persons; in the second are those who depend on religious or other institutions for meaning in their lives; next are religiously skeptical truth-seekers; the fourth stage embraces "mystical/communal" people attuned to the interconnectedness of all things. At times sounding himself like a mystic, he urges readers to discover the meaning of their lives by confronting the mystery and inevitability of death; envisages God as a sexual being who endowed human lovemaking with a spiritual component; outlines his vision of heaven and hell; and fuses psychiatric insights with his highly personal approach to Christianity. He also critiques the New Age movement, explores myths as guiding metaphors for psycho-spiritual growth and plumbs the roots of addiction, guilt, blame, self-hate and self-acceptance.